The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. As part of this, I’m writing monthly columns about the politics of the era, written the same way I’d write them today. The events described here took place in August-September 1776. You can sign up for our monthly newsletter here:
We have a government.
We may technically have never been without one, but now we have a more regular one.
The House of Burgesses sputtered to a halt in May, the end of an elected legislature sanctioned by the king against whom we are now in revolt. Then came the Fifth Virginia Convention, which declared Virginia independent of the crown about six weeks before the Continental Congress in Philadelphia did the same for all the Colonies. The Fifth Virginia Convention also wrote a constitution for Virginia, and that’s what set in motion the late-summer elections across our new state.
Those election results have been trickling in — different counties have held their canvasses at different times — but now we have a full picture of the new Virginia General Assembly that will convene for the first time in October.
Unlike previous bodies, this new legislature will be comprised of two chambers, a smaller Senate and a larger House of Delegates. This is presumed to make it more difficult to pass onerous legislation like what we have had to endure from London.
Many of the legislators who will be taking their seats are well-known across Virginia.
In the Senate, the predominant figure is likely to be Archibald Cary of Buckingham County. At the Fifth Virginia Convention, he chaired the committee that produced the resolution for independence.
Other prominent senators are likely to be William Cabell of Albemarle County (a prominent surveyor and the only member of Virgina’s Committee of Safety from the Piedmont), William Christian of Botetourt County (one of the signers of the Fincastle Resolutions in January 1775 that first proclaimed a willingness to fight for liberty) and Henry Lee of Prince William County and Thomas Ludwell Lee of Stafford County (by definition, all Lees in Virginia are prominent).
On the House side, there’s a long list of well-known names. When the House convenes, it will include four people who signed the Declaration of Independence, including the one who proposed it and the one who wrote it. Albemarle County sends Thomas Jefferson. Westmoreland County sends Richard Henry Lee, who first set independence in motion. Charles City County sends Benjamin Harrison, who presided over the debates on that document in Philadelphia. King William County sends Carter Braxton, who also was a signee of the Declaration of Independence.
Other notables will be George Mason from Fairfax County; he ideally needs no further introduction. Caroline County has chosen Edmund Pendlelton, who led Virginia’s Committee of Safety and essentially served as governor between the forced departure of the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, and the election of Patrick Henry in his place. Orange County has elected James Madison, said to be a rising star in Patriot circles.
This new legislature will have much work to do. We can assume that English common law still prevails, but we will need specific laws for the new era we find ourselves in. We have broken from the crown because we felt that Britain did not respect our rights; now we must spell out just what those rights are under a new government.
The new government must also make preparations for war. We have felt safe ever since Lord Dunmore and his ragged fleet passed Cape Charles, ideally departing our shores forever. However, that situation could change at any moment. General George Washington’s position in New York is a precarious one. Riders from the north could bring news of a military disaster any day now. Virginia must be prepared to bear the brunt of British power if it comes.
For now, Virginia has laid the foundation of a new government. We’ll see now how long we can keep it.
